When New Brunswick couple Pauline and John Hollier checked in with a doctor recently, it was discovered that they were both going to need heart surgery. The weird part was, they both required the exact same operation.

“I mean, you don’t ever see this, where you get a husband and wife combination,” said cardiac surgeon Dr. Ansar Hassan. “Both of these patients had blockage of their aortic valve. Every individual has four valves and, in this case, they both had identical blockages of the same valve.”

Given the circumstances, Hassan suggested he operate on both of them on the same day. Even though the idea caught the couple by surprise, they eventually agreed.

“We booked them on the same day and we ended up carrying out a very similar operation in both of them,” Hassan said. “There was just slight differences between the two of them, but for the most part it was the identical operation one after the other, and they both stayed in hospital for the exact amount of time afterwards.”

When they finally woke up after the procedure, Pauline said her first thought was “we made it.” The couple, who have been married 52 years, are now recovering together and it appears that the operation was a success.

“Never have we had a husband and wife combination at every step of the way, have the exact same test, same results, and the same outcome,” Hassan said.

Looks like it’s safe to say: these two have a whole lot in common. Check out the heartwarming story in the video above.